Correlation of Dietary Intake and Serum Lipid and Blood Sugar Profile in Male and Female Cardiac Patients

Introduction: Heart is one of your body's most important organs. Essentially a pump, the heart is a muscle made up of four chambers separated by valves and divided into two halves. Heart and blood vessel disease also called heart disease includes numerous problems, many of which are related to a process called atherosclerosis (American Heart Association. 2014).

Objective: To compare and find association of dietary intake with blood parameters between male and female cardiac patients attending public and private hospital.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 150 cardiac patients (98 males) attending private and public hospital in Mumbai city. Anthropometry was measured. Dietary intake was calculated using 2 day diet recall. Serum lipid profile, fasting and post-prandial blood sugar were measured. Analyses was performed using SPSS software for Windows (version 16. 0, 2007, SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL). Independent sample T test was used to analyse the data. Pearson’s correlation was used to assess correlation between dietary intake and blood parameters. P-value < 0. 05 was considered to be statistically significant.

Results: The mean HDL cholesterol was 33±5 mg/dl; LDL cholesterol was 143±38 mg/dl. VLDL cholesterol was 103±39 mg/dl, total cholesterol was 256±55 mg/dl, triglyceride was 104±33 mg/dl, fasting blood glucose was 120±25 mg/dl and post-prandial blood sugar was 206±25 mg/dl. Dietary intake of the patients was also assessed carbohydrates were250. 1±74. 8 g/day, protein was 57. 5±10 g/day, fats were 58. 7±9. 7 g/day and energy was 1718±224 kcal/day. The percentage energy intake from carbohydrates was 58. 1±15. 1%, protein was 13. 5±2. 5% and fat was 31. 0±5. 4%. Percentage RDA intake for energy was 78. 2±15. 5% and that for protein was 102. 3±19. 8%. As seen in, there was a significant correlation of percentage energy from fats with LDL cholesterol (p<0. 05). In females, HDL cholesterol was correlated with carbohydrates, fats and energy intake (p<0. 05). Total cholesterol was correlated with percentage energy from carbohydrates in females (p<0. 05). Post prandial blood sugar was fats, percentage energy from fats and RDA proteins in females (p<0. 05).

Conclusion: Both in males and females cardiac patients, there is a significant association of dietary intake with lipid profile and blood sugar levels. Nutrition counseling and dietary interventions should be planned to improve lipids profile of cardiac patients.